


The Doctor and the Dalek

by MissPossum05



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Doctor Who - AU, Doctor Who Feels, Doctor saves Oswin, Episode: s07e01 Asylum of the Daleks, Friendship, Post Episode: s07e01 Asylum of the Daleks, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 13:58:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5458958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissPossum05/pseuds/MissPossum05
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hundreds of years after Asylum of the Daleks and the Doctor is alone. The Ponds were sent back in time around 200 years ago and he's been companion-less ever since. But now, he is ready and wants to right some wrongs.<br/>In a universe where he never met Clara, the Doctor goes back in time to save Oswin from the asylum.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doctor and the Dalek

"Run you clever boy... And remember..." Tears tracked their way down Oswins cheeks. After helping the Doctor and his companions back to the relative safety of the Dalek Parliament. Oswin had reached the end of the metaphorical road and was now in the process of sacrificing herself to save an alien she had just met and his two human accomplices, in her last act of humanity. At least her mother would be proud.

Taking a breath, Oswin wiped away her tears and pushed herself out of the squishy control chair to grab the last half of a Cadbury's Dairy Milk from the tiny kitchenette. She had been saving it to make warm milk chocolate soufflés with (or attempting to anyway) but this seemed like an appropriate time for chocolate. It was probably going to get burned anyway. The purple, limited edition, 21st century-styled foil wrapping glinted up at her cheerfully in the artificial light of her ship. 'Now with genuine Earthling bovine milk and almost-original Earthian ingredients!' it boasted proudly on the packet.

Oswin flopped down on to the sofa, and took a healthy bite of the chocolate, taking care not to choke as she lay down. She unclipped the voice recorder from her belt, brought it to her lips and swallowed her chocolate before pressing the record button. "Hello again, it's me" she said, in a wobbly, yet falsely cheerful voice. She cleared her throat. "I'll keep my last entry short and sweet since this is the last time you'll hear from me. I probably don't have that much time left anyway" she pauses a little. "So, the Doctor is safe and so are his friends. I found out I'm a Dalek... A human Dalek. Hopefully more human than Dalek..." She mused. "Anyway, the Doctor has gone. And it turns out I'm not being rescued. I'm just waiting now. Signing off, Oswin Oswald." she finishes with a sigh, feeling unsatisfied with her final message.

She clicked off the voice recorder, but held it in her hand. Her message had felt incomplete, like it was missing something. Unfinished. Perhaps she should have said something good and meaningful, or maybe something funny and lighthearted as her last message, instead of something so hollow and sad. That's not what she wants her last words to be, even if she was going to be the only one to hear them.

Oswin closed her eyes and took a breath, thinking hard for a few seconds. "Actually, you know what?" She starts, opening her eyes and shrugging. "I've got my chocolate, I've got my opera, the doctor and his friends are safe, this isn't a bad way to go.   
I’m missing mum’s birthday and I never fulfilled my dream of making the perfect soufflé, but you can't have everything in life. Soufflé Girl, signing off."

There. Short and sweet, with a little bit of humour and a dash of her well-known optimism, despite her not-so-positive, soon-to-be ending. Even the soufflés got a mention.

Oswin clipped the voice recorder back on to her belt and reached over to the table for the remote. Pressing play and turning the volume up, she took another bite of the chocolate as opera music filled the ship.  
\---------  
\---------

The Doctor flipped switches, twisted dials and pulled levers, grasping the console as the TARDIS tumbled through space. He had dreamed about this since Amy and Rory had been banished to 1920s New York, and now was the perfect time to go back and get her. He had a basic plan; go back, fire himself at the planet, find Oswin, get her to the TARDIS and go, all while avoiding his younger self and the Ponds’. Thinking back all those years ago, he remembered as clear as day the chemistry between himself and his souffle girl, and after spending so many years alone, he was ready for a friend, a companion.

On one of the monitors was a grainy image of a decrepit Dalek and on another screen, a white and grey planet sat rotating serenely through the cosmos. The planet was protected with an almost impenetrable force field-- a blue network of hexagons enveloping the planet and giving it an appearance similar to that of a golf ball, if looked at in just the right way.

The TARDIS shuddered to a halt with a low hum as it reached its destination. His hearts pounded with the excitement at the promise of adventure and if he was successful, a new companion. Adrenalin pounded through his veins and an excitement and warmth, that he hadn’t felt since losing Amelia and Rory almost 200 years previously, blossomed somewhere inside his chest. An almost-but-not-quite grin graced his face, but it felt foreign on his lips, as if his 200 years of self-alienation and forced-isolation following the sudden departures of the Ponds had left his facial muscles out of practice. 

Straightening up, the Doctor twizzled a knob on the console and a small light on the dashboard flashed twice, letting him know that the TARDIS had been fully concealed with the cloaking device. He glanced at the images on the screen and made some final checks on a big blue button (oh, how he loved big buttons!). This one had trails and trails yellow wires, some of which emitted a soft glow, like some corded version of Rapunzel's hair. These wires lead from where the button sat all shiny and tempting, down underneath the console and into one of the panels. 

Attached to the wires, sat a handful of very precious and very delicate, yet volatile spherical orbs of immense power, which Amy and Rory had once assumed were ‘harmless space junk’. This assumption had almost sent the Doctor into a duo-cardiopulmonary arrest when he caught them attempting to juggle the orbs out of boredom. That was when the TARDIS had needed to power down on the moon for a couple of days following a particularly taxing adventure on the pseudo-planet; Rabidus-9. The Doctor had lectured and ranted on and on to Amy and Rory about the fundamentals of orb safety, and had told them to never mess with dangerous things that were so clearly dangerous. Granted, the orbs had been stored in the ‘harmless junk’ box, but still.

The Doctor checked the time and date on the console and synchronised his wristwatch to the numbers shown on the display. Excellent. Everything was going to plan. With a flip of a switch, the TARDIS was now monitoring the activity of the force field encircling Skaro. So, all he had to do now was wait.

For thirty minutes, the Doctor kept his eyes glued to the screen, his muscles tensed for action. His right hand lay steady on the red lever, while his left hand hovered above the big blue button. Timing in this was key. 

Suddenly, a bright beam of light shot at the asylum. The Doctor slammed his hand on the button as the beam pierced it's way into the force field. His grip tightened on the lever in preparation and a few seconds later, three separate balls of light were fired through the beam at immense speed, like light through a length of fibre optic thread. The Doctor slammed the red lever down and the TARDIS dematerialised.  
\------  
\------

The time rotor rose and fell gracefully within its glass casing and the tardis ground to a halt with a resonating bonggg. The Doctor flipped more switches and the image of the decrepit Dalek on the first screen flickered and was replaced by a live feed of the area outside the TARDIS. The image was in varying shades of grey, and from what he could tell, he was parked in a dimly lit corridor. Thankfully, he saw no signs of any Daleks within the immediate vicinity.

Out of his inner jacket pocket, the Doctor pulled out a fairly chunky, portable, handheld television (from the 1990s if he remembered correctly) which he had modified slightly to suit his needs. He unfolded the metal antenna, extended it to its full length and switched it on. Static ‘snow’ immediately showed on the screen and the portable telly emitted a loud buzzing noise from the transistor inside. He turned the volume down and the buzzing faded away. The Doctor pressed the buttons to change the channel and managed to pick up a fuzzy image of a children's’ cartoon from the 90s. Flipping past the children's‘ programme, the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and sonicked it until the cartoon was replaced by a green map of Oswin’s floor of the Dalek asylum. It did not contain many details, since he’d had to make it from his memories, with the aid of a memory-boosting drink made from Memria bugs found on Rabidus-9.

The Doctor also pulled out a piece of old Gromin technology, which he had recently repaired and altered. He strapped it on his wrist, above his watch. It was a little uncomfortable as it was so thick, but it couldn’t be helped. He held the sonic to the black box on his wrist and tilted the screwdriver this way and that, trying to find the biting point to activate the technology. The sonic buzzed and whirred, until eventually the black box clicked and the Doctor started to fade from view, starting at the wrist, spreading up his arm and throughout his body and clothes, until he was completely invisible. 

Striding over to the doors of the TARDIS, the Doctor stored the sonic and television in his pocket as he went, and they too became invisible as his jacket encased both objects. 

He slowly opened the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. After all, the TARDIS may have been undetectable to outside observers, but that didn’t stop the wooden box from being solid and emitting the occasional sound when knocked. Peeking out and seeing no one, the Doctor hopped out and carefully shut the wooden doors with a satisfying snick. 

With the threat of damaged Daleks, or worse, the risk of running into his younger self or his former companions, the Doctor had to stay as alert as possible to avoid bringing attention to himself. Silence pressed in on his eardrums, with only his breathing, the rustle of his clothing, and the faint sound of his rubber-soled shoes on the floor with each carefully placed step to keep him company. He had been here before, he knew, but each corridor was so uniformly made that he would not have been able to tell.

At the end of the dim corridor he crouched behind a metal pillar and pulled out the handheld TV. It appeared as if by magic when he pulled it out of his pocket, looking as if the device was floating in thin air since his own hand was invisible. The invisible Doctor switched it on and sonicked the TV. On the screen, a little red triangle representing himself and a red line directing him to Oswin’s cell appeared. 

The Doctor followed this red line, hurrying along the corridors, quietly darting around corners and keeping a keen ear out for indications of Daleks and companions alike. He rounded a corner and stopped in his tracks. Inevitably, at some point he was going to encounter daleks and it seemed that time had come. A large chamber full of daleks lay ahead. The chamber was as dimly lit as the rest of the place seemed to be, and the high ceiling arched over them. The daleks sat inactive in the chamber. 

He consulted the map. The thin, red line lead right the way through the chamber and turned left sharply at the end, where a door lay. The Doctor crept forwards, down the ramp and into the chamber. Eyes wide open, hardly blinking and ears pricked, he inched closer and closer to the door.

Loud footsteps pounded on metal grating, heading towards him. The Doctor glanced at the TV in his hand in horror. A piece of chunky, 90s technology suspended in midair was a good an indicator as any, that there was someone invisible stood there. Plus, he was solid. No amount of invisibility in the universe would stop his younger self from crashing into him if he didn't move. 

He threw himself behind another pillar as the younger Doctor appeared further down the corridor, crouched and running at full pelt as laser fire flew past him. The invisible Doctor wasn't quite quick enough when flinging himself out of the way and the younger Doctor just caught and tripped over the invisible leather boot of his older self. The younger man stumbled and nearly fell. A laser fired past the younger Doctor and would have fatally blasted him in the head had he not tripped on his future self's foot. 

Luckily, the younger Doctor recovered and managed to outrun his fall and sprinted down the same corridors his older self had just walked down. He pressed himself flat against the wall. Insane and battleworn Daleks wrapped in chains wheeled by. Some bashing into the walls, firing shots and shouting in languages that no longer existed. More laser fire blasted into the walls and the Doctor shielded his eyes from the bright, hot shower of sparks as they collided with the walls. The Daleks were too bloodthirsty and too damaged to notice the floating portable television, as they followed clumsily after his younger counterpart.

The Doctor stayed alert for any tell tale sounds of approaching Daleks, but heard nothing. Perhaps they were safely contained behind a door? Or maybe the had all gone careening after the other Doctor? One could only hope. He consulted the map again. Right, nearly there, Oswin.

The Doctor hurried back to Oswins’ door. Now that he had seen himself running back to the TARDIS, he knew he didn’t have long to break into Oswins’ room and break out of Planet Golf Ball before it blew up.

He hurried back to Oswins’ door. Now was not the time for hesitation. He pounded on the thick, metal door with his fist. “Oswin!” He pounded again. “Oswin, it’s me! It’s the Doctor! Open up!” The door didn’t budge. “Oswin, please! I’ve come to rescue you!” Why wasn’t she answering? Had something happened? The Doctor pressed his ear against the door. Music. He could hear opera music faintly through the door. “Oswin!” He called, banging frantically on the door again. There was no use. If those crazy Daleks couldn’t blast their way through the door, then he had no chance. 

He searched around for something - anything - that he could use to grab her attention. Nothing. There was nothing. He leant against Oswin’s door and slid down, eyes closed and eyebrows knitted together in thought. There has to be something. The Doctor opened his eyes and spotted it. Right up in the corner, cleverly hidden behind thick wire, was an eyestalk. The same eyestalk that Oswin had hijacked and used to talk not long ago, to talk to the younger Doctor, before they had discovered her fate as a Dalek. 

Yes. He hopped up, whipping out the sonic screwdriver. The buzzing and whirring working its magic on the eyestalk. The blue light of the eyestalk glowed to life and loud, slightly distorted opera music filled the air.

“Oswin! It’s the Doctor, do you copy?” he spoke loudly and clearly over the woman singing in Italian. There was a few seconds before the music halted and Oswin’s voice sounded over the speaker.

“Doctor? What are you doing here? Get out!” The Doctor smiled, feeling the excitement and the rush of adrenalin through his veins.

“I’ve come to rescue you, now let me in so we can ditch this giant golf ball and fly away in my box.”

Oswin appeared not to hear him. “What are you doing? I told you to run, I saved you! This place is going explode!” She yelled in a rush. “And… Where are you?” She added. The Doctor imagined here peering over the screen of Starship Alaska.

“I know, that was the other me. This is a different me, I’m invisible because I’m clever and I made a thing and I’m here to rescue you. We haven’t got long so grab your coat!” The Doctor answered as Oswin spluttered through the speaker. The Doctor lowered his voice and spoke urgently at the eyestalk. “Oswin, really, we don’t have time. Open the door and come with me.”

The metal door opened and the Doctor saw the Dalek sitting there. “Hello again. No time to talk, follow me!” He yelled and sprinted off, feet hitting the metal grating hard and fast, but he didn’t get far before Oswin stopped him..

“DOCTOR!” Oswin yelled down the corridor, her Dalek voice reverberating off the walls. “I can’t see you, all I can see is a box.” She said, chasing down the Doctor.

“Oh” the Doctor said quietly, feeling sheepish. The sonic whirred and he faded in to view. “Follow me” he said again, and carried on sprinting down the corridor, with Oswin on his heels. He checked the map, and it lead him through the corridors and to the TARDIS.

They sped down the halls, not checking for danger; there wasn’t time. They’d either get out, get shot down, or be blown up. Instead, the Doctor crouched low and ran fast, avoiding all the poorly aimed shots fired in his direction by the enemy. 

Finally, the Doctor and Oswin made it. He jammed the key in the lock and the TARDIS popped into view as he threw the doors open. He was panting so hard he couldn’t get words out, so he gestured at the door. “Oswin… TARDIS… In… Now…” 

“Won’t... fit...” Oswin replied. Oddly enough, she was panting too. 

“Doors… wider on… the inside…” He gasped out, his heart's pounding a mile a minute. “Go” He gestured at the doors again.

The Dalek rolled forwards… And promptly bashed into the door frame. Evidently, it was not wider on the inside. “Sorry!” she gasped.

“Not now, TARDIS!” He yelled, still out of breath. “Let her on!” The TARDIS whined in protest. “I’m not getting on… until Oswin is aboard.” He panted out and gave a small kick to the side of the TARDIS. “No time! On, now!” The TARDIS hummed discontentedly. “Go ahead.” He said quietly to the Dalek.

Oswin rolled back, then forwards and this time, she rolled with ease on board, although it was a bit of a tight squeeze. The Doctor immediately hopped past the Dalek, kicking the doors shut behind him and hurriedly slamming buttons and pulling levers at the console. The time rotor rose and fell, the characteristic grinding of the TARDIS filled the air as it dematerialised and carried the Doctor and the Dalek away from the asylum and towards safety.


End file.
